Gridiron-valve



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

G. J. MELLIN.

GRIDIRON VALVE.

No. 454,875. Patented June 30, 1891.

INVENTEIR MI/I L I mum, vusmuumu, o, 1:,

WlTNEEEiEE (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(J. J. MELLIN. GRIDIRON VALVE.

Patented June 30,1891.

\NVENTElR WITNESSES UNITED STATES PATENT OFF-Ion.

CARL J MELLIN, OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.

GRIDIRON-VALVE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 454,875,dated June30,1891.

Application filed March 6, 1890.

, lowing is a specification.

My improvements in gridiron-valves relate to the construction of stop,check, and other such valves as rise or otherwise move to and from theseat in a gridiron form, affording double or more the area of openingfor a given size than the sliding gridiron-valves are capable of withproportionately less area subject to pressure than in the ordinary stop,check, or other lift valves, and, so that the. rise or movement of thevalve may be proportionately less for a given amount of opening; and itconsists in duplex or triple constructions of the valve, whereby stillgreater area of opening is secured and less movement is required, all ashereinafter fully described, reference being made to the accompanyingdrawings, in which Figure l is a sectional elevation of the barrel orcylinder of a lift-pump having my improved gridiron-valves, which are induplex and triplicate construction, respectively; and Fig. 2 is atransverse section of half each of the upper check-valve and thepiston-valve of Fig. 2, and side view of part of the pistonvalve rod onan enlarged scale to illustrate the invention more clearly.

Gridiron lift-valves have been made in which the valve-seat consists ofone or more concentric annular or other shaped rings a, and the centerI), in addition to the outer ring 0, forming the usual seat, withintervening annular spaces (1, and the valve is constructed withcorresponding annular rings 6 and spaces f, except that the rings of thevalve cover the spaces of the seat and the rings of the seat cover thespaces of the valve, so that as the valve lifts off the seat two ways ofescape are opened by each ring of the valve to the fluid from eachpassage through the seat, whereby with a valve having three annularpassages through the seat and three rings to the valve there are sixopenings for the escape of the fluid to one of the common form, withprobably three or four times the area, which is not increased inproportion to the Serial No. 342,889. (No model.)

number of openings, because of the decreasing circumference of theinneropenings; but the increase of area is very large, and consequentlythe valve maybe much smaller; and

it will be observed that for valves of equal size the area of the Valvesubject to liftingpressure is diminished by the area of all the ringsand the center piece of the seat, so that it is probably not a quarterof that of the ordinary disk-valve. This is especially important insafety and relief valves, as it lessens the strength and weight of thebalancing devices, particularly the springs of spring-controlledsafety-valves.

As a further means of increasing the area of opening and diminishing thelift, I propose to construct the valve in two or more liftingplates,whereof the intermediate plate or plates h have, besides the passages j,over the bars of the seats, other passages '6, over the passages of theseat, which are closed by the bars e of the top plate or valve proper,thus providing double the number of openings through the intermediateplate or plates, by which it will beseen that the area of opening isenabled to be greater than the area of the bars, as will be seen in Fig.2, by which the size of the valve and the height of the lift may becorrespondingly diminished.

To cushion the working-plates of the valve and prevent them from beatingtogether or on the seat or against the shoulder l, limiting the rise ofthe top plate, I provide the flange m on the top plate to trap the waterin the annular space under said shoulder; also the annular spaces atbetween the plates and in conjunction with the annular spaces undershoulders 0, and also the flange p on the lower plate in conjunctionwith the corresponding recess in the center hub of the valve-seat, inall of which traps the Water cushions the plates by delay in escapingthrough the limited spaces of the joints at the instant before 5 thecontact of the plates, as will be clearly understood, and thus preventsor greatly limits the shocks of contact and diminishes the damagingeffects thereof on the metal.

I claim as my invention The combination, with the gridiron-valve seat,of a gridiron-valve consisting of atop plate and one or more independentintermediate plates, said top plate having like num- IOO bers of barsand passages as the seat, ortheremy invention 1 have signed my name,inpresabout, and the intermediate plate or plates ence or two Witnesses,this 31st day of Decemhaving double the number of the same, 01' her,1889. thereabout, the area of the passages being 5 greater than the areaof the bars, snbstan- Vitnesses:

JJially as described. W. J. MORGAN,

In. testimony that I claim the foregoing as XV. B. EARLL.

CARL J. MELLIN.

